Pete Carroll and Mark Sanchez have known each other since the Jets quarterback was in high school. And Carroll, a former Jets head coach now head coach of the Seahawks, got to know Sanchez fairly well during the three seasons Sanchez played for him at USC.

Carroll said yesterday he doesn’t know how easy it will be for Sanchez to contend with the tidal wave that is Tim Tebow and Tebowmania.

“It’s not easy,” Carroll told reporters at the NFL owners’ meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. “It’s tough. It’s a challenging situation. He can’t brush it off. … It’s a challenging predicament. The other guy is going to play some so that means [Sanchez] is not.

“He’s no different than anybody else. He wants to play, and he’s going to fight for that.”

Carroll also said the situation is going to be tough on Rex Ryan and the Jets coaching staff.

“How are they going to know if the guy sitting on the bench is able to come in and win that game?” Carroll said. “They’ve both done it. They’re both come-from-behind guys. They’ve both overcome odds and issues.

“It’s going to be fascinating to see how Rex does it. If anybody can figure this out, Rex can figure it out.”